Badly needing win, Rebels try to end daunting Clune swoon
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Clune Arena doesn’t look imposing.
Air Force has trouble filling the 5,843 available seats for basketball games. The court shares the same building with a track.
Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium it isn’t.
It’s an arena, however, where favored teams often go to lose, and UNLV has been far from immune. The Rebels, who visit the Falcons at 7 p.m. Wednesday as 9½-point favorites, haven’t won at Clune since 2014.
Rebels coach Marvin Menzies understands the experience, having watched UNLV lose 81-58 in last season’s trip to the arena that sits at an elevation of more than 7,200 feet. As an assistant coach at San Diego State, he was on the bench when the Aztecs went 2-2 at Clune between 2000 and 2003.
“It has an environment that’s different than your typical basketball arena because of the seating,” Menzies said. “There are a lot of unique aspects of the travel that make it challenging. Plus, they play really well at home.”
UNLV (12-4, 1-2 Mountain West) needs the victory after a rough start to conference play. The Rebels were outplayed in an 83-74 loss to Boise State, escaped with an 82-76 overtime victory at San Jose State, and were defeated 85-78 by Utah State. This stretch has added a sense
UNLV
ESPN analyst to sign a 10-year, $100 million contract with the NFL team.
He initially joined the franchise in 1998 at age 34. He remained there through the 2001 season before being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gruden won a Super Bowl the next year over the Raiders. He hasn’t coached in the league since 2008.
“I never wanted to leave the Raiders,” Gruden said. “I never thought I’d be back. … I feel a lot of unfinished business. I feel a lot of loyalty, and I feel a lot of responsibility to get the Raiders going again. It’s been awhile since we consistently performed at a high level, and that’s really all I care about.”
Gruden said he will call offensive plays from the sideline, a role he’s held in the past. He also confirmed the hirings of defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, offensive coordinator Greg Olson and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. More interviews will be Wednesday morning, Gruden said.
This was a long time coming for Davis.
He attempted more than once to lure Gruden back onto the Raiders’ sideline. That included leading up to the 2014 hiring of coach Jack Del Rio, whom Davis fired Dec. 31 after a 6-10 season to add Gruden.
Davis’ father, Al Davis, died Oct. 8, 2011. Shortly afterward, his son addressed reporters.
“I said the one thing I know is what I don’t know, and I’m going to surround myself with the people that do know those things,”
Mark Davis said. “My vision at that time was Jon Gruden to coach this football team and (general manager) Reggie Mckenzie to bring in the talent. It took me six years of chasing Jon.
“But every trip I made to Tampa Bay, I sat down in the Fired Football Coaches Association room and saw the work that Jon does every day starting at 3 in the morning. Watching film. Marking down plays. How much he enjoys it. And over the six years that passion never waned. He’s continually doing it, and I continually tried to convince him that he’s wasting his time teaching everybody out here how to play football, that he should come back and that he should do it with a football team in the National Football League, and if he’s gonna do it, he should do it with the Raiders.”
Added Davis: “It is the biggest day of my life right now to have him here to run this organization and be the leader of this organization on the field. It’s going to be phenomenal. I’m excited.”
Raiders alumni who attended the ceremony included two Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receivers under Gruden — Tim Brown and Jerry
Rice — and retired defensive back Charles Woodson.
In a moment of levity, Woodson asked Gruden if his contract includes a no-trade clause. It does, Gruden said.
Gruden’s introduction was inside the team’s weight room to account for the large number of people who attended. There were 230 chairs with a standing section for 25 video cameras.
Before hiring Gruden, the Raiders interviewed two minority candidates to be compliant with the Rooney Rule, Mckenzie said.
They were Southern California offensive coordinator Tee Martin and Raiders tight ends coach Bobby Johnson.
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Gehlkennfl on Twitter.